A Penn Valley Couple will continue their fight with the County over the location of a cell phone tower that is proposed for construction near Lake Wildwood. Juliet Erickson and her husband, Peter Lockyer filed a lawsuit against Verizon, NID, and the County for approving a Cell Phone Tower that was originally proposed to be built 20 feet from their property line. Juliet Erickson in an earlier interview with KNCO said the County gave approval for the 48 foot cell tower under a variance that should not have been allowed.

click to hear Juliet Erickson
The final variance and approval for the cell phone tower passed on a 4 to 1 vote by the Board of Supervisors with Supervisor Terry Lamphier voting No.

The tower is to be built on property owned by NID for water storage and Verizon will lease a part of it to build the tower. Lockyer and Erickson claim this is a classic David and Goliath fight. Lockyer says Verizon’s out of town representatives came into Nevada County and pushed through a plan that violates the law.

Several Lake Wildwood and Penn Valley residents have said they want the tower because they have no or limited cell phone service in the area. Fire officials and paramedics has also said it is a safety issue to improve cell phone coverage in the Penn Valley area.

Lockier and Erickson ‘s appeal will be discussed at a public hearing regarding the July18th Zoning Administrations decision to approve the complete Wireless Amended Permit and to adopt the Mitigated Negative Declaration for the facility on NID property. The Item is scheduled for 1:30 pm Tuesday in the Board of Supervisors Chambers at the Rood Center.